Quote:
Originally Posted by Kathleen
I will try to be somewhat objective LOL. I am not someone who looks for every little mistake made in order to trash Jon or the band. I have always enjoyed these shows and I look forward to them.
I noticed a sound change in the first track - almost like a phase change - but I honestly paid no attention to it. At many shows, the soundboard engineer tweaks the sound during the first track until it sounds right. So it really didn't bother me. I was enjoying the beginning of the show and certainly didn't hear a big problem.
Overall I enjoyed the show. What I didn't enjoy was the way the sound was mixed. The guitars (for the most part) were way down in the mix. Most of the time I couldn't hear Phil X at all - except for a small portion of KTF. He is so good, and he is certainly a worthy replacement for Richie's guitar. Unfortunately he isn't used that way and I think it's a shame. All the little fills that Richie used to do are just a "wall of sound" now. John Shanks is certainly better than Bobby was, but if they had let Phil X off the leash I think he could have done far more.
And that brings me to Jons vocals, they are also buried pretty deep in the mix. You don't hear his voice loud and clear very often - and that is what I used to enjoy. I know why they are doing this - many bands do it - but I really miss Jon being right up from in the mix. It doesn't bother me particularly that he can't sing as well as he used to. He certainly didn't butcher anything - he is just not up to his usual standard - but it's not glaring and that part bothered me the least.
Overall I wasn't surprised that the show was shorter - I have been to many Mohegan Sun shows and I know what I'm going to get time wise. The arena there is also half the size of Madison Square Garden so there isn't really a bad seat in the house. I like being closer and we had great seats.
The overall show was awesome - I don't miss the screens at all - I love the lighting effects. The energy coming off the entire band was fantastic. I honestly didn't expect that and I was very pleased.
I still have 2 shows to go - both nights at MSG - and I am sure that the setlist will be longer and hopefully free of fcukups LOL. I still have hope for a rarity or two.
Even if this were the only show I had seen - I would still go back for more. This is NOT Jon embarrassing himself, it just isn't the same band (or sound) that we were all used to.
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Thanks for the honest and in depth review Kathleen. I love that you are very fair in your judgement
I too think that Phil is underused, he's sometimes walking around playing air guitar and making silly faces while Shanks is soloing (I'm exaggerating of course, but he could and should be playing more parts). I'm not a fan of Shanks' playing and I feel that there's too much spotlight on him. Nothing against him at all, he obviously suits BJ much better than Bobby, but I liked Bobby's minimal stage presence and I don't think that Shanks should be so upfront. It's not as if they shine more spotlight on Phil, it'll feel like the real BJ again, but it kinda makes sense to have the lead guitarist of a rock band to ... lead a little bit, even taking into consideration that he has to be somewhat restricted to fit his current role until fans get used to him.
Splitting lead guitar so many times during the show won't probably be an issue for many fans, sure, but I personally feel the stage looks too crowded and Jon has to pretend to bond with two dudes instead of one, too exhausting. It detracts from the experience, makes it more obvious that this bunch of people don't have a lot of stage chemistry
Jon's voice was very prominent in Philadelphia judging by YT videos, maybe this time it was the arena's acoustics? Or he knew his voice would be weaker and didn't want to feel too exposed? I say this because there's been some comments here from other shows about how it'd be better if they lower Jon to allow all the backing vocals to cover him because he's too high most of the time. Hell, most reviews are pointing this, his vocal decline and how good the others are at backing him